Adversary
by VintagePoison
Summary: Ever since they were kids, Natsu and Lucy felt a mutual "hate" for each other. But when Natsu disappears only to return to two years later for their last year at Fairy Academy, will those feelings remain unchanged, or will they finally admit to what was there the whole time? Also, what has Natsu been hiding from these past two years?
1. Chapter 1

**Adversary  
**

 **9 Years Ago**

 _"_ _Guys! Look at what I found under my pillow this morning!"_

 _The blonde brown-eyed 7 year-old girl ran across the Fairy Tail Elementary School playground to meet with her friends who were sitting by the swing set. She plopped down on the grass, too excited to worry about getting her bright yellow dress dirty. In her hands was a small bronze coin with the number "100" on it. She held her hand out for her three friends to see. The scarlet-haired girl sitting to the left of her looked at it and grinned when she realized what it was._

 _"_ _That's 100 jewel, Lucy! You could buy something nice with that at the store," she said to the blonde girl, pointing to the coin._

 _The raven-haired little boy sitting across from her got on his hands and knees and leaned over to get a closer look. "Wow, you can buy an ice cream with that!"_

 _The pink-haired boy to her right, however, just sat there and stared at the coin with his arms crossed, unimpressed. "Big deal. 100 jewel isn't even a lot. You can't even buy a bottle of hot sauce with that. And how did it even get under your pillow anyway?"_

 _The blonde frowned, but then returned to her original state of excitement as she remembered her new treasure. "The Tooth Fairy put it there! My tooth fell out yesterday, so I put it under my pillow when I went to sleep, and when I woke up to check on it, I found this!" She held up the coin to his face, giving him a closer view. He only scoffed. Her grin dropped and she returned her hand to her lap._

 _"_ _Whatever. That's nothing to be excited about. You're so weird, Lucy. I'm gonna go play with Max now." He then got up and left the 3 of them on the grass, then proceeded to run over to the sandbox where his brunette friend was._

 _The blonde-haired girl yelled after him in anger. "Yeah, well you're weirder!" She ran off in a huff in the opposite direction to meet with her blue haired friend who was reading a picture book on the swings. The remaining two friends stayed on the grass, bewildered._

 _"Why do they always have to fight all the time?" The raven-haired boy sighed in annoyance. The red-haired girl looked up in thought, trying to remember something. Her mother had talked about this before. She straightened suddenly as if a light bulb went off in her head._

 _"_ _Oh yeah! Mother always told me that when a boy was mean to you, it meant he actually liked you, in_ that _way," She stated with a slight blush. The raven-haired boy grimaced._

 _"_ _You think Natsu likes Lucy in_ that _way?! That's so gross, Erza!"_

 _"_ _Well that's what Mother said! Do you have a problem?" She glared at him intimidatingly, and he instantly cowered and shut his mouth. "I think Natsu and Lucy might like each other in_ that _way because Mother is never wrong. And it's_ not _gross!"_

 _The boy thought about her words for a few seconds, then his eyes got wider as if he came to a realization. "Oh, okay! So you and Jellal fight because you like each other?"_

 _The girl's eyes widened considerably as her face turned crimson._

 _"_ _No!"_

 _That day, the young blonde girl and pink-haired boy had made no progress in actually becoming friends, and the raven-haired boy went home with a bruised rib and a new fear of a certain scarlet-haired 8 year-old._

* * *

 **9 Years Later**

 **7:30 A.M**

RING

RING

RING

RING

The sound of my phone's default alarm went off, waking me up with its obnoxious sound. Leaning over to disable the alarm, I did so and then lightly tossed the phone on the desk at the foot of my bed, not even bothering to look at the time. I _really_ shouldn't have waited until 3 a.m. last night to try to catch some sleep. I had been too excited, but now I was just exhausted. I flopped back down on the soft pillow as soon as the phone hit the table.

"Sigh... I was having such a great dream, too," I muttered to nobody in particular.

Once I finally found the strength to rise, I looked around the large room. It's always looked like this, luxurious and fancy yet still utterly boring and dull. It hadn't changed much since I was a child, so every piece of furniture was either a shade of pink or white. Two narrow sliding glass doors that touched the ceiling and led to a small balcony resided on the right side of my unnecessarily large bed, covered by droopy pink sheer curtains. Between the two doors was a white wardrobe that was full of fancy clothes I was forced to wear on a regular basis. Across from my bed was a long mirror, where I was looking straight at myself from. A desk sat in the far corner, where I would express my every thought on paper. To the left was the stupidly large door that led to the absurdly large hallway.

 _I can't wait to leave this place._

I could only squint at the rising sun through the glass door for a few seconds before the sunlight started to irritate and blind me. I guess it was the universe telling me I ought to hurry up and start getting ready.

After a few moments of thinking about destroying my phone with a giant hammer for interrupting my beautiful dream that I had already half forgotten about, I stopped letting out my frustration at inanimate objects and willed myself out of bed, slowly walking into my bathroom through the other stupidly large large door by my bed. The wide mirror above the bathroom counter top clearly reflected my terrible appearance: blonde hair standing in all directions, bags under my hooded and groggy eyes, lips dry, and the white tank top I had slept in was wrinkled and in disarray on my body. I looked as bad as I felt. Waking up early was one of the most dreaded things in my existence, but I had to today... Because it was Move-In Day.

...

... It was Move-In Day!

My mood changed almost instantly.

Today, I would be moving back to the dorms of Fairy Academy for my third year. At the thought, a grin replaced my frown, all my previous annoyance and frustration at the morning gone. I'd be getting out of this huge lonely house, returning to my very own dorm in Fairy Hills, all my friends would only be a short walk away, I had no annoying servants or demanding fathers to tell me what to do, I'd be _away from this boring house_...

" _Ahh_ I can't _wait_!"

I spent about ten minutes trying to make my face look at least halfway decent in the bathroom, then rushed back into my room and swung open the doors of my large wardrobe to get my outfit for today. Amongst the fancy dresses, I found the little pile of casual clothing I had set aside for this day and immediately pulled it all out. The outfit wasn't anything particularly dressy; Move-In Day wasn't exactly a formal occasion. Ten more minutes or so later I was in a pair of denim shorts along with my navy pullover sweatshirt that had "Fairy Academy" in bold white lettering and the school insignia on the front of it. I was in the middle of happily slipping on one of my white sneakers before my phone started to ring and vibrate wildly on the desk at the far end of my room, making a ruckus and effectively ruining the mood. I ungracefully hopped over on my right foot, still trying to put on my left shoe, and snatched the phone from the desk, answering the call without even bothering to check who it was. I seriously doubted someone other than a close friend was trying to talk to me at this time.

Sitting on the chair at the desk, I asked the generic "Hello?" at whoever was on the other line, tilting my head to place the phone between my shoulder and my ear.

"You're late, Lucy! Get your ass over here already!" Cana's voice boomed in my ear.

"Is she not taking the train?" I faintly heard Levy in the background.

"Huh?" Late? Not possible, I was sure I set my alarm to wake me up early enough. I looked over at the digital clock on the desk, ready to prove them both wrong, but when I saw the time, my jaw dropped to the floor. They were right. I _was_ late. How long had my alarm been ringing? It was 7:55 and train left at 8. Crap. It took me _at least_ 10 minutes to walk to the train station. I'd have to run, fast, or I'd miss it. The next train won't be here until next week, but by then it would be too late. I said a hurried goodbye and threw my phone in my pocket, picking up my large duffel bag by the desk and throwing the strap over my shoulder. I didn't have to bring anything more than that, since I left all my other things back in my dorm at the end of last semester. You keep the same dorm through all years of attendance, and the cleaners keep it nice and safe, so why not? Quickly checking the mirror to make sure my blonde hair was properly in my trademark style, a half up side ponytail tied with a navy and white ribbon, I bolted toward the door at record speed.

I had _five minutes_ to get to the station. _Damn it._ I had no other quicker way to get there, because it's not like Father would go out of his way to help me. He loathed the fact that I go to Fairy Academy. He preferred me at home, training to take over the family business. Then in a few years I would be picking a rich snobby suitor to marry. I hurriedly rushed out of the room, running across the hallway (and getting looks from the housekeepers), quickly passing by my dad's office. The doors were open, which was a rare occurrence. I stopped in the doorway to say a quick goodbye to my dad, who was clad in a beige suit, sitting alone at the long table reading a newspaper with a cup of coffee. I said a quick farewell (but of course, he didn't even spare me a glance) and ran back out to the front door, down the stone stairs leading outside, out of the large front yard and eventually onto the main road without slowing down once, my hair and bag flopping around wildly the whole time. If I ran the whole way, I would probably make it, barely. So that was what I was gonna do.

The weather was good, at least. The rising sun was now completely visible in the horizon, making it nice and bright outside and filling the sky with beautiful shades of blue, and it was perfectly windy… or maybe I only felt wind because I currently dashing at the speed of light on the walkway.

In the midst of my frantic running like it was the damn Olympics, I pulled out my phone to check the time. 7:57. Three minutes left until the train left. Not too bad, the station wasn't that far anyway. Actually, I could faintly see it from where I was. I shoved the phone back in my bag and moved my attention back to the road.

I guess I was too focused on the station, and running too fast to notice someone stepping out of their house and walking onto the main road until it was too late. All I saw was a mass of pink before I barreled into the lucky guy that unknowingly just walked straight into my path, the impact making us both fall over and land on the hard concrete. It seemed he had noticed me before I had noticed him, because I felt a pair of hands stop me from landing straight onto the hard floor. A large bag, that I'm guessing belonged the person, flew up and landed in a heap somewhere else on the road, and mine fell on the space beside us.

Anticipating the pain of landing on the hard concrete, my eyes squeezed shut, but the pang never came.

It took me a couple seconds to get out of my shocked daze and realize what just happened. I had run into someone, and was now awkwardly lying right on top of them. _Oh_. So _that's_ why it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. The dude broke my fall. Well, judging by the hard, flat chest I face-planted on, I _assumed_ it was a dude. His hands had fell on my waist to support me, and I couldn't help but think this position looked slightly suggestive, and was glad the streets were currently empty. The unpleasant stares from passersby would've definitely not helped my current mood.

"You alright?" I heard a voice below me, followed by a laugh. He sounded unfazed, which surprised me. And _he_ was asking _me_ if I was alright? I wasn't the one who was currently sandwiched between a person and the hard ground, _he_ was. So if anything, _I_ should be the one asking that question. I did appreciate his kindness, though. And why did his voice sound so familiar? Did I know this person? Eh, I decided I was probably just a little messed up in the head at the moment because of what just happened.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn-" I began to say as I regained my senses and lifted my head from his chest. But when I saw who this guy was, my whole body froze, despite his unusually high body heat.

Amused onyx eyes looked into my stupefied brown ones. The same onyx eyes I used to glare at years ago.

"You gonna finish your sentence, Luce?" He asked with a smug smirk.

" _Natsu_?"

It was _him_. _He_ was back.

After disappearing for two years, Natsu Dragneel was back.

Well, shit.


	2. Chapter 2

**I am back! Nothing much happens in this chapter, but a lot of things are explained here, so I highly recommend reading it. Also, I should've mentioned this in the previous chapter, but in this story, Natsu and the others are indeed wizards, which you will eventually find out as you read this chapter. I tried to make everything as understandable as possible. While magic doesn't really play a big role in these first chapters, it will be used eventually. Soon, even.**

 **Anyway, I apologize if this A/N is annoyingly long. Without further ado, on with the chapter!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **3 Years Ago**

 _"'Sup, guys?"_

 _Walking hand-in-hand down the hall with a pretty purple-haired girl, 14 year-old Natsu Dragneel walked over to three of his friends who were currently standing between two classrooms. He waved his beautiful companion away dismissively when he got to them, and she gave him a quick kiss (which he half-heartedly returned) before she walked off. Gray smirked and waved with a "'Sup?", and Erza, though she looked unimpressed, smiled nonetheless at her friend. Lucy just eyed him coldly, scoffing._

 _"You just started dating a different girl last week, and now you're with a new one?" She spat. "You're unbelievable."_

 _Instead of hurt, he looked rather amused at her comment, much to her irritation. He leaned foward. She had to fight the urge to step back in intimidation._

 _"Why do you care about who I date? Are you jealous?" He asked smugly. "You know, if you want to date me so badly all you have to do is ask."_

 _It took all her strength to keep from turning bright red in both embarrassment and anger. "W-what?! I'd never date_ you! _I wouldn't date you if we were last two people on earth! Dream on," She huffed, crossing her arms across her chest._

 _She was riled up even more when he just laughed. He backed away from her, the smug smile still on his face._

 _"Jeez Luce, I was only joking. Why so defensive? Are you trying to hide the fact that you actually_ do _have a crush on me?"_

 _This time, Lucy could not suppress the blush that invaded her face, much to her chagrin. "N-no! I'm just emphasizing the opposite! And do_ not _call me Luce!"_

 _…_

 _Then her expression changed as she got an idea._

 _Her voice lowered, until she sounded as calm as the pink-haired pyro did. "Jeez Natsu, why do you keep assuming I like you? Do_ you actually _have a crush on_ me _?"_

 _Their facial expressions from a few moments ago swapped. Lucy was now sporting a self-satisfied smirk, while Natsu's previous smirk was now gone, replaced by a small blush._

 _"A-as if!" He stammered. "Whatever. I'm out." He walked into the nearby classroom to the right of them, while Lucy stormed into the one on the left, leaving their other 2 friends alone in the hall, dazed. Erza and Gray, who had been closely watching the whole scene, sighed._

 _"They need to make out and get it over with already," said Gray tiredly. Erza blushed, but nodded in response._

 _"For once, I actually concur."_

* * *

I had only just realized I'd been staring at him for the past 10 seconds, too shocked to make any movement to get off of him, and now he eyed me curiously as if to ask 'so are you gonna do anything or not?'. His curious look turned into a smug one a second later.

Dammit. Here it comes.

"C'mon Luce, have some decency. As much as I'd love to do this right now, we're in the middle of the street."

Aand there it is. Good old Natsu.

I felt my cheeks burn and I sloppily rushed to get to my feet, so fast it made me feel slightly light-headed. He did the same, except slower and with a lot more grace. We were now standing a good distance from each other. Good. I stared at him with a scowl, memories from the previous years flooding back into my head.

I still couldn't believe he was actually here. Two years ago, just before our first year at Fairy Academy, he left the Fairy Tail just before his first year at Fairy Academy, leaving everyone behind with no warning whatsoever. He probably attended either Sabertooth Academy or Phantom Academy, but none of us could know for sure because you weren't allowed to have any contact with other kids who went to a rival school, if you were attending one yourself.

Allow me to explain.

Natsu and I, along with our friends, live in Magnolia, home of the Fairy Tail guild that existed decades ago. Magnolia, along with other towns in the kingdom of Fiore, was very small, with only a few elementary and middle schools. The chain of schools in Magnolia was called the Fairy Tail School District, named after the Fairy Tail guild. There was Fairy Tail Elementary School, Fairy Tail Middle School, Fairy Junior High, and a few other schools, but no high school. There just wasn't enough space in town to have an entire high school that every kid in Magnolia could attend.

In another town, there was the Sabertooth School District, named after the Sabertooth guild. Like Magnolia, they were unable to build a proper high school. The Phantom Lord School District in Oak Town was the same.

This problem did not go unnoticed by the Fiore government. In Crocus, the massive capital of Fiore, there was more than enough room to build three high schools, so that was what they did. In areas just outside of the main area of the city, three boarding schools were built. In the north, they built Sabertooth academy. You were expected to go there if you had gone to school in the Sabertooth School District. In the east, there was Phantom Academy, and Fairy Academy resided in the west. It was an odd system, but there hasn't been any problems so far.

Actually, that was a lie. There were huge issues with this setup.

Back then, before guilds disbanded, the Fairy Tail guild was made up of friendly yet powerful wizards who shared a close bond with each other. But they were also notorious for accidentally destroying property during their jobs. The students who now go Fairy Academy took on these characteristics, many of us being friendly and modest (even though we could be absolutely crazy sometimes... Okay, a lot of times), but having tendencies to go overboard when it came to using magic for projects, jobs, or anything destructive, really.

The students who went to Sabertooth were also exceptionally strong wizards, but only because they didn't accept anything less, just like the Sabertooth guild back then. If your magic wasn't powerful enough, they kicked you to the curb. You were expected to be able to defeat all of your enemies, and if word got out that you lost a fight, you were disciplined severely. On some occasions you were even kicked out. They did not tolerate weakness under any circumstances. You had to be a pretty strong and confident wizard to get into Sabertooth, and as a result, they were all egotistical snobs. If Natsu did go to Sabertooth, I hoped to Mavis they didn't turn him into one of them. He was already bad the way he was, no need to make him worse.

I didn't know much about Phantom, but I've always been wary of them. Back when we were all allowed to interact with each other, I would always get bad vibes from people I met who went to Phantom Academy. Well, I guess it made sense to get a bad vibe, because when you met someone from a different school district it was almost guaranteed you were going to fight, but there was also something else to them. It was like they were always plotting something, something evil. You could tell by their secretive ways, their sly and sneaky actions, and even the looks on their faces and the way they carried themselves suggested they were up to no good. They were mysterious, those Phantoms, and not in a good way. No one really knew much about them. It also didn't help that the president of the Fairy Tail district and the president of the Phantom Lord district didn't have the best relationship. They practically hated each other, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Phantoms were plotting something bad against us Fairies.

Now, let me explain why this system was problematic.

Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, and Phantom Academy were known as the "rival schools" in Fiore because of the intense rivalry between the three of us. We would fight with each other... on a regular basis. It's almost like we were three separate large gangs, instead of students. If you were a Fairy Tail student walking through the streets of Crocus and you were unlucky enough to find a Saber or Phantom, people crowded around you, expecting a fight... And they usually got one. One school would always feel the need to assert its dominance over the others, which led to many street fights, and mild vandalism in the more shabby parts of town. After a few years of constant fighting, nearly the whole city separated into territories. The entire north, east, and west of the city was split into sections, the north being Sabertooth Territory, the east being Phantom Lord Territory, and the west being Fairy Tail Territory. If you went to one of the three schools, you didn't dare enter a part of the city that was on another school's turf. If you did dare to trespass another school's territory, you basically signed your death sentence. You were safest in your sector, along with the areas of Crocus that weren't taken over by the students, that being the center of the city where the King and Queen of Fiore resided (no one would ever dare to try and mark territory there), and the whole southern part of the city. The fighting was still really bad in these free parts, though, and this went on for a long time, but after a law was passed a few years ago that the Sabertooth, Phantom Lord, and Fairy Tail students were not allowed to have any contact with each other, things got better. If you were to even _glance_ at a student from a different school, you could be questioned, or even fined. The law was less active in the territories, though, because it was your own fault if you were dumb enough to walk right into enemy territory. But for the most part, everything was better. Thank Mavis. I don't know what would've happened if things were to get out of control. Though it was still a possibility. It was only a matter of time before people started to disregard the law and act on their own accord. We _were_ still kids who didn't know any better, after all. The whole thing kind of scared me. I mean, I guess I could leave all my friends and transfer to a nice school like Lamia Scale High, in a peaceful quiet suburban town that wasn't too far away from home, but where was the fun in that?

With all that said, it made sense why we didn't hear from Natsu at all for the past two years. If he's been going to a different rival school, he wasn't allowed to talk to us, and we weren't allowed to talk to him. On top of that, we couldn't enter any place in Crocus that was occupied by the Sabers or the Phantoms. But that didn't make it any better. He still left without any sort of goodbye, which pissed everyone off (except me of course…) considerably.

So why was he back now?

Which school did he go to?

Why did he come back?

Had he missed our friends?

Has he changed?

Would Fairy Tail accept him?

Actually, that last question was a no-brainer. In Fairy Tail, you don't turn your back on your classmates, no matter what. They'd accept him back in a heartbeat. It also helped that he had a lot of friends. But while he was immensely popular, he was also quite the delinquent. When we got to middle school, he never came to class on time, wasn't afraid to speak his mind (which pissed teachers, and me, off considerably), and liked to start "accidental" fires in classrooms with his powerful fire magic. How he never got expelled, I don't know. He had no concern for school rules, which is why he got detention almost every day. He was also one of the biggest players you could meet. Because of his strength (both magic and physical) and (as much as I'd hate to admit) looks, he was admired by many girls. When everyone started dating in 7th grade, he had a new girlfriend every other month, and on some occasions, every _week. In 8th grade,_ the guy was never single, moving on to a new girl every 2 weeks or so, and he was only 14. But even though he wasn't the best kid to get involved with if you wanted to stay out of trouble, his charismatic personality made you want to be his friend. He was also really smart, always getting high grades despite never doing his homework. I had no idea how he did it. He was a genius without even trying.

Back when he went to Fairy Tail with us, we shared a mutual dislike for each other. We argued over anything and everything, no matter how big or small. We just never saw eye to eye, that's just how it was. And as we got older, it didn't get better. We gradually stopped being constantly at each other's throats as we got closer to middle school, but what he started to do instead when we actually got there was worse. Every time I'd call him out on something he did wrong, he'd turn it around on me. He'd call my arguments an "attempt at flirting", an "excuse to talk to him", an "effort to keep my 'obsession' for him secret by pretending to hate him", and any other ridiculous accusation of that sort you could possibly think of, just to rile me up. And it did rile me up indeed, to the point where I had to stop myself from giving him a "Lucy Kick" to the face. He wasn't a bad person, though. We just never got along. And no matter what his stupid cat, or Mira, said, it _wasn't_ because I liked him. Definitely not. Nope.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I demanded, dumbstruck.

"Isn't it obvious? I transferred back to Fairy Tail," he responded while picking up his bag, amused face still intact. "Did you miss me?"

"Like hell." For some reason, it felt like I had just told a lie.

"Oh come on, No need for all that. How about we just put the past behind us, okay? I've _matured_."

"I doubt you even know the meaning of the word _matured_ ," I said, annoyed by his presence. "Why did you even leave anyway? Where did you go?" I asked, hoping it didn't sound like I cared too much. Because I didn't. Totally didn't. Not at all.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Because I just want to know!"

"Why?"

"Because I do!"

"Why do you?"

"Because- no. I'm not doing this with you right now," I said, already exasperated. Matured, my ass.

"Doing what?" He responded with a smirk.

I chose to ignore and walk around him. I was going to be even _later_ now, thanks to Natsu.

As I picked up my duffel bag and maneuvered my way around his now 17-year old body, his eyes followed my every move, and I suddenly felt self-conscious for whatever reason I didn't know. He then proceeded to follow behind me as I started to walk straight, toward the train station. I sped up.

"Why the rush, Luce?" Even though I couldn't see him, I knew he was smirking. That made me even more annoyed. I wanted nothing more than to slap the arrogance right off his face.

"I'm not answering that question," I said simply, without slowing down. He knew damn well where I was going. He continued to walk at the same pace as me.

"Why are you walking so fast?"

"Because I'm going to miss the train."

"So?"

"So, unlike you, I want to get to school."

"That's lame."

"Okay."

" _Boring_ , Luce."

"Call me Luce again and I'll castrate you with your own fire."

That made him stop walking, which made me stop as well, in curiosity. Did he seriously get hurt by that comment? I turned to face him with a raised eyebrow. He was smirking.

"It's good to be back. See you at school, _Lucy_ ," He said with his smirk still intact, and promptly turned around to walk in the opposite direction.

"Aren't you taking the train?!" I called out to him.

"Are you kidding? There's no way I'm getting on that death trap!" He called back. Seconds later a red haired man exited Natsu's front door and jumped high into the sky. After a few moments the average sized man had completely shapeshifted into a huge red dragon hovering in the sky. The sound of nearby windows opening was heard from where I stood on the street, followed by the sound of shocked, curious people.

"Is that..?"

"Natsu?"

"Natsu and Igneel are back?"

"Is that who I think it is?"

"They're back! Mom, they're back!"

Oh. I see. His dad would be taking him to school.

Dammit, I wish _I_ had a cool dad who could shapeshift between human and dragon whenever he wanted.

Natsu's flying blue cat, Happy, then flew through his front door, picking the teen up and plopping him on the dragon's back. He then went back for the rest of Natsu's things. They disappeared in the sky with a _woosh_. People gasped in awe from their windows. I couldn't help but also watch the whole thing in complete wonder, momentarily forgetting how late I was. Hey, it's not every day you get to see a pink haired teenager with a flying blue cat ride off into the sunrise on a huge dragon.

I shook my head and turned back around, resuming my run to the train station, faster than before. I had no time to stop now.

* * *

It was 8:05 when I got to the station, and it was just about to leave. I ended up having to stop the doors from closing, but hey, at least I didn't miss it.

I rushed through the narrow doors, panting like a crazy person. As soon as I got in, the doors closed and the large train began to move. I took a look around. Everyone was already here, as expected. They _had_ been talking avidly with each other, until I stormed in. Now they were all staring at me in amusement. The first friend I spotted was the brunette sitting in a compartment by a window at the far back corner, next to a certain blue-haired bookworm. Cana and Levy. In the seat across from them, I saw a familiar head of red hair, sitting next to two familiar heads of white hair. Erza, Mira, and her twin sister Lisanna. I smiled, making my way over through the narrow aisle, passing by other sections and waving to friends in other compartments until I got to the back of the train. I took the seat by Levy, and stuffed my bag under it.

"You made it! I thought you were gonna have to walk!" Cana exclaimed. Levy,

Mira and Lisanna nodded vigorously in agreement. Erza had her arms crossed with an expression that screamed "I'm a disappointed mother". I didn't respond because I was still completely out of breath, but my eyes spotted the flask hidden in the waistband of Cana's shorts and I let out a small laugh. Typical.

"Here, have some of this. It's great after a workout."

Mira handed me a small vial from out of her large bag and handed it to me. I popped open the cap and emptied its contents into my waiting mouth. The warm, flavorless liquid immediately made me feel completely revitalized, almost as if I hadn't ran an inch before getting here.

"This is great!" I exclaimed, holding up the bottle at eye level to get a closer look. "What is it?"

"Refresher potion. I got it from that old shop just down Main Street," Mira replied.

"Remind me to go pick some up when we come back," I said, returning the vial. She laughed and nodded.

"Sure thing. So why so late?"

"Sorry, I would have been here earlier but-" I was about to tell them all about my unexpected encounter with Natsu, but stopped myself. Knowing them, they'd start freaking out over him coming back, and it would cause everyone to hear the news, resulting in a chain reaction in the large train full of fellow students.

"But..?" Erza pushed me to continue my sentence, leaning forward. Everyone else in the booth followed soon after, and I felt cornered. Should I tell them? They _were_ gonna see him on campus anyhow. But _not_ telling them would just make me feel like a terrible person. I contemplated this. Oh well, I'd probably end up telling them about it later anyway.

"But.. I may have bumped into … someone on the street."

Cana's eyebrow arched. "Eh? Who?"

They all looked at me in curiosity.

"I'll tell you, but if you guys start freaking out I'll stop," I warned, not really wanting to cause a scene with my news. They all continued to look, interested, then they nodded excitedly and moved even closer to me. I hoped to Mavis they wouldn't freak out at what I was about to say. Well, here goes nothing.

"It was... Natsu," I said as low as I could muster while making sure they could still hear me.

"NATSU DRAGNEEL?!" They all attempted to whisper, but utterly failed. It came out slightly louder than their normal voices, and my hands instantly flew over Levy's mouth in a stupid and futile attempt to silence them all. I looked around the room, now extremely thankful all the other passengers were too immersed in their own conversations to hear ours... Or so I thought. My eyes fell on all our other friends sitting close by, and they were all leaned toward the compartment I was in. They seemed to have had been listening in to our whole conversation. Gray, who was sitting in the booth beside us with Loke, Jellal, and Max, had his jaw on the floor. Erza's eyes were the size of golf balls. Lisanna's eyes looked just like Erza's, but she was also wearing a huge grin that looked exactly like how Mirajane's looked at the moment. These expressions were also on Elfman, Jet, Droy, Nab, Max, Evergreen, Bixlow, Freed, and even Laxus's face; they all had sitting in nearby compartments, listening in. Thankfully, no one else (that I saw) seemed to hear. I turned back to look with a scowl at the four girls who were in my compartment, but it softened into more of an amused stare when I saw their eyes, which still looked extremely shocked. Their eyebrows were almost lost in their hair.

"Dammit, guys! I said don't freak out," I said tiredly, face-palming. I promptly turned back to face all the others. "Yes, it was Natsu Dragneel."

"What happened!? Where is he?" Gray all but demanded. That didn't surprise me, he _was_ Natsu's best friend after all.

So much keeping it on the down-low.

* * *

After a few minutes of answering questions from everyone about Natsu's reappearance, everyone went to talking amongst themselves in their own booths, mainly about that pink-haired pyro. In mine we were also still talking about him, much to my dismay. Levy had long checked out of the conversation though, now deeply focused on the book she was reading. She and Natsu had never been that close anyway.

"Oh my Mavis! I can't believe he's finally back," Lisanna exclaimed. "I missed him so much!"

"So does he look any different?" Mira asked me.

"He looks... Older," I said simply, trying not to say anything that would cause them, _especially_ Mira, to make assumptions. It was no secret that my friends had wanted Natsu and I to get together since 7th grade for some stupid reason.

"Older as in... Better?" Cana asked suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Older as in older," I deadpanned.

"I can't wait to see how much he's grown," Erza said excitedly in her mother-like voice, eyes dazzling.

Mira's eyes sparkled as well. "Yeah, and you guys were so cute! I can't wait to see my favorite couple again!" She squealed. She and her twin then shared a high-five while happily chanting the phrase "Nalu". I rolled my eyes, but with a lack of seriousness as I laughed along with everyone else.

"Whatever," I chuckled.

"You can't be in denial forever, Lucy Heartfilia!" Mira squealed, causing me to laugh even more. Those twins knew no boundaries when it came to matchmaking.

"We shouldn't forget that he completely disappeared without so much as a goodbye, though," Cana said seriously, effectively shifting the mood.

"Indeed. He must be punished, after he is questioned," Erza added.

"Aw come on guys, for all we know something really important came up, and he had to leave ASAP! We shouldn't jump to conclusions so soon," Lisanna reasoned. Mira nodded.

"You've been saying that since he left. Well, I guess we'll find out when we see him," Cana concluded. Everyone nodded in agreement.

No one else in the booth talked about me and Natsu for the rest of the trip after that, thankfully. We spent the rest of the 6 hour train ride catching up, talking about our plans for the school year, eating, and occasionally, napping.

The sun was high in the sky when we arrived at Crocus, the "Blooming Capital" of Fiore. Luckily, the train station was located in the central part of the city, so we didn't have to worry about entering enemy territory. But school hadn't started yet, so surely everyone else in Phantom and Sabertooth were starting to move back into their dorms at this time as well. We would have to be cautious in this part of the city for now. As soon as I got out of the train and into the bright sun, I took a deep breath of the city air and was hit with a wave of nostalgia. I left the station and was greeted with the familiar beautifully decorated, paved streets filled with people and stalls selling various items, the clean buildings you saw at every corner that were mostly hotels and stores, and the tall castle that stood proudly in the dead center of the city, Mercurious, could be seen in the distance.

"I'm back," I contently whispered to myself, shutting my eyes and taking in the sounds of the city.

The Fairies went their separate ways as we began heading west towards campus, but we would eventually all end up at the same place. Evergreen grouped up with Laxus, Freed, and Bixlow, Lisanna went with her twin sister and Elfman, Gray left with Loke, Jellal and Max, and I left with Erza, Levy and Cana. All the other students left with their own friends.

"Do you guys wanna walk around the city for a bit before we head to campus?" Levy asked hopefully.

I was about to voice my agreement, but Erza spoke before I could. "Negative. We should get settled first before anything."

Cana nodded. "Yeah, I really don't wanna have to carry this bag everywhere. Let's unpack first," she said while adjusting the strap of her duffel bag more securely on her shoulder. She did have a point. This thing was seriously starting to get heavy, and the heat wasn't making it any better. I had to remove my sweatshirt and wrap it around my waist when we got off the train because of how hot it was, and so I was now walking in a white tank top, but it was still blazing.

With that, we decided to make our way straight to campus.

After about 30 minutes of walking, we were standing in front of the large red buildings of F.A. We wasted no time as we rushed to the dormitory, greeting fellow students occasionally, and the first thing I did when I got to my dorm in Fairy Hills was drop my bag somewhere on the floor and flop face-down on my clean pink comforter. After hours of train-riding, walking, greeting people on campus, and _months_ of being restricted in a depressing house with my oh-so caring father, I was exhausted, and it was only 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

It was good to be back.

With a content sigh, I fell asleep a few minutes later.

* * *

Two hours later, I woke up to a knock on my door followed by muffled female voices saying things that sounded like "Lucy! Open up!" And "Stop sleeping!"

I slowly rose up from my comfortable bed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, immediately missing the softness of my mattress, and walked over the door, swinging it open to find Erza, Levy, and Lisanna in the hall. They were dressed in new clothes with their fists in the air as they were about to knock on the door a millionth time. Erza sported a white sundress that was fitted at the top and flowy on the bottom, and went to her knees. Levy was dressed in a casual short orange dress. I was starting to feel slightly underdressed before I saw Lisanna, who was wearing denim shorts like mine, along with a light blue flowy tank top. Lisanna grinned as she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb.

"C'mon, we're gonna go meet Natsu and the other guys in the courtyard," She said with barely contained excitement. I immediately brightened at the thought of all of us hanging out as a group again.

"I gotta change first, but I'll meet you guys," I said while tugging at my plain white tank top. They nodded and proceeded to walk away.

"Don't take too long!" Levy called out as they made their way down the carpeted hall, that was brightly lit by the sun flowing through the wall of windows on the opposite side.

"We'll be waiting in front of the dorm building!" Erza followed.

"'Kay!"

I closed the door and began the process of changing.

 _So Natsu's officially back, huh._

At the thought, I suddenly felt the need to look as good as possible.

That unnerved me.


	3. Chapter 3

**More filler yay**

 **Also wow, it's been a while**

 **More very soon I promise**

* * *

The walk from Fairy Hills to the main courtyard was a short one, which was great because my legs were completely beat. My plain white tank top was replaced with a chiffon green one so I didn't feel too underdressed anymore. The sun still remained high in the sky, beating down on everyone under it, but the light wind that occasionally blew made the heat a little more tolerable. We spent a few minutes walking on the clean concrete road and admiring the beautiful view of the flowers and the other red brick buildings of F.A. before we finally got to the large square courtyard. It was a beautiful area with four large stone pathways, each coming from different directions and leading up to a huge fountain that stood tall at the center. Between these pathways was grass that seemed to always be perfectly green and trimmed, and there was a stone border along the edges of the square, where seating areas that consisted of pairs of wooden benches facing each other with a stone table between them. It was fairly easy to find our friends sitting at one of the tables, since we had picked one of these seating areas to be our main spot in our first year. It was the one in the far right corner, next to a tree that provided shade over the majority of the table, somewhat secluded from the main area. I looked over to that spot, and sure enough, our guy friends along with Mira and Cana were sitting on the benches talking and laughing about something I was too far away to hear. I spotted a certain dragon slayer almost immediately, his prominent pink hair visible from a mile away. _Sigh_. I looked over to my other friends to see their expectant reactions, and sure enough, they looked the opposite of how I probably did right now. Erza and Levy looked elated to see everyone, and Lisanna's eyes were sparkling, her grin getting bigger by the second. Before I could even _blink_ , she was bolting across the large open space yelling "Natsuuuuu!" over and over, tears spilling over her cheeks. Erza and Levy were laughing and shaking their heads at her adorableness, but I could see the same excitement in their eyes as we too began making our way to the pyro. I couldn't help but smile, though. Lisanna and Natsu had always been close friends. How she dealt with him, I didn't know, but then again the only person he really seemed to annoy the most was me, for whatever _stupid_ reason. As soon as he spotted the white-haired mage, Natsu had immediately gotten up from his seat, rushing across the courtyard to greet her.

They met at the fountain in the center of the square, Lisanna throwing her arms around his neck and his around her waist as they exchanged a huge hug. We caught up to them shortly after, and they were still locked in a tight embrace. He soon let go of Lisanna to give another hug to Erza and Levy, but I wasn't around to witness those because I walked straight past Natsu over to the table where everyone else was, ignoring his presence completely. I could faintly hear the girls sighing tiredly behind me, but what were they expecting? Did they think I'd be like Lisanna, throwing myself in his arms and crying tears of happiness? If they did, they were sorely mistaken. I won't put aside the way he had acted around me ever since we were kids in a few short years. It'd take a hell of a lot more than that for me to forget how he mocked me constantly ever since we were little. I mean, I knew I wasn't exactly a saint in our relationship either but that was only because of his attitude toward me. Things haven't changed just 'cause he suddenly began to pop back up randomly after 2 whole years.

"Still hate me, Luce?" He asked amusedly when they caught up to me, and I didn't even have to turn and face him to see that he was wearing that stupid smirk. But I did anyway.

"Still being an insufferable ass?" I spat, my glaring eyes contradicting his amused stare.

"Oh come on, that was all in the past," he replied, giving me his innocent looking grin, but I knew it was anything but.

"C'mon Lu-chan, lighten up! We're all reunited!" Levy exclaimed brightly with a large grin.

"I guess that's true," I admitted with a smile of my own. Yeah, Natsu being here slightly annoyed me, but everyone else seemed to be really excited he was here, and I wasn't going to ruin that. I loved seeing my friends happy even more than I hated Natsu's stupid smug face.

Everyone greeted us with smiles and hugs as we approached the table and joined them.

"Ok, so everyone's here," Mira stood to face us all and slapped a hand on the table, effectively gaining everyone's full attention. "Natsu. Talk."

"Huh?" He said lowly, playing dumb while avoiding eye contact.

He felt a single claw-like fingernail slowly begin to dig into his hand that rested on the table. "Natsu…" Erza's evil glare was beginning to peek out from under her bangs.

"Alright, alright! It's kind of a long story."

"We have time," Gray responded with a no-nonsense expression.

Natsu took a deep breath.

"I was hiding from my brother."

...

"Huh?!" Everyone let out in perfect unison.

"Since when did you have a _brother_?" Gray questioned, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "And why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't you tell _any_ of us?" Lisanna added, a frown washing over her face. Nods of agreement followed, everyone still in complete shock.

Natsu has a _brother_?

No freakin' way.

"Please let me finish. My brother is bad news. Straight up evil. That's why I didn't tell anyone about him," he explained, and everyone fell silent.

"Long story short, he tried to use my dragon slayer magic to awaken a dark evil thing that should never be touched. My dad knows some really powerful wizards, and they were able to disguise me so I could hide from him until he was dealt with. My whole physical appearance and my magic was changed so he couldn't sense me, and I moved in a small cottage with Happy in the woods. My dad led my brother to believe I was hiding from him in some other district, when I was actually hiding in plain sight the whole time. You guys know Friendless Sam?"

The new information raised _many_ eyebrows, but the group just nodded in unison. Sam Neel was the shyest kid in our district. He was an incredibly strong mage, but he never talked to anyone, always hiding his shaggy dark hair in a red beanie and wearing the same tracksuit to school almost every day. Apparently he transferred from a smaller district because they felt a powerful mage like himself was too good to _not_ go to a prestigious school like Fairy Tail. Everyone called him Friendless Sam because he never said a word to anyone, and therefore had no friends. It's funny though, I usually see him everywhere I go around campus, but I didn't see him at all today.

"Well uh… You're lookin' at 'im. Dad said I couldn't talk to any of my friends or it'd raise suspicion."

Silence.

…

"WHAT?!" Half of us exclaimed in perfect sync, while the other half could only stare while our jaws flew south.

Natsu looked away and began to scratch the back of head, probably nervous to see how we'd react every explaining all of this. The story was absolutely wild.

Natsu has an evil twin brother that tried to harness his magic to awaken some evil force so he became Friendless Sam to hide from him for the past two years and...

He had been here the entire time. He never left.

" _You're_ Friendless Sam?! What the fuck?" Gray cried out in complete astonishment.

" _That's_ the first thing you have to say?!" Cana tried to respond to Gray's outburst as cool as she could, though you could tell she was just as stunned as he was.

"Oh Mavis, you poor thing," Mira said softly, concern filling her wide blue eyes as she grabbed Natsu's other hand and squeezed it. "You must've been so lonely."

Rather than the sad expression we expected, we were met with a huge grin from the pyro as he shook his head. "Nah, I had Happy with me the whole time! He helped me through it the whole way."

Something flared up in my gut at that. That was so… _cute_.

Oh Gods stop. He's an ass, remember?!

Right.

Shoving all pro-Natsu thoughts to the back of my mind, I came back to reality. Even though he said he was fine, and Happy supported him through it all, there was a hint of light missing from his wide smile. Even with Happy around, not being able to talk to any of his friends probably took a toll on him. For the first time, I actually felt bad for the pink haired jerk.

"But anyway, there's nothing to worry about now! I'm back, so let's just put it all behind us alright?" He beamed.

You could tell that everyone still had a lot of questions, but for Natsu's sake we dropped the subject and spent the rest of the time simply enjoying the afternoon weather and catching up with our recently returned friend.

I avoided talking to him to prevent pointless bickering, though I couldn't ignore the nonstop glances he sent my way every so often. I also found it really weird that the whole time, he never once did anything to get a rise out of me.

Weird.

* * *

We eventually retired to our dorms when the sun began to set, all of us tired from the long day. I could hear the sound of other long lost friends laughing and having fun through my open window, and for some reason, it made me feel at peace. I had forgotten how good it felt to be free from my father's clutches, although years ago, I would've wanted nothing more than to hang with him while he did his work. It wasn't until my mother died when I was nine that I began to dread being at home.

Back in those days, we were all one big happy family. My mom was a ball of sunshine, and it would rub off on my dad, and in turn we'd always be smiling, together. But after her death... It seemed the only thing that kept us happy was snatched away from us, and I haven't seen my dad smile once since then. He became so immersed in his work be barely paid me any mind, and whenever he would it would always be business related. Possible marriage arrangements, training to take over the railroad company we owned, wearing huge, uncomfortable dresses and constantly having to learn proper etiquette... It all consumed my life, and I had nowhere to escape.

That is, until I got to Fairy Academy.

F.A. was my escape from my reality. It was far away from my house, therefore far away from my responsibilities, and my father. My home away from home. I could wear clothes that exposed my legs and arms without being reprimanded, I didn't have to worry about how I looked all the time, I didn't have to listen to my father talk to me about my "bright" future... To put it simply, whatever I couldn't do back in that stupid house, I could do here, without worrying about any type of negative consequences. I loved it.

I was hanging my sweatshirt up in my closet when I felt an oddly strong breeze behind me. It was getting late, and the breeze was beginning to get a little chilly. I closed the closet door and turned to go close the window, and immediately froze in my tracks when I spotted a certain pink haired douche sitting irritatingly nonchalant at the edge of my bed.

"Hey Luce! Mira wanted me to let you know we're all gonna go to the dining hall in 30 minutes," he stated casually, with his pseudo-innocent smile.

My jaw dropped.

He grinned wider.

"GET OUT!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Ahh idk how I feel about this but here ya go**

* * *

"Relax Luce, it's just me," he said amusedly with his arms raised in mock surrender. He got in— no, he _broke_ in, through my damn _window_. Who in their right mind would think it was a good idea to sneak into someone's room and pretend everything was all fine and dandy? I'll tell you who: Natsu Dragneel, pink-haired pyro douchebag.

"They're called _doors_ , idiot!" I yelled in annoyance, picking up a shoe from my closet and throwing at his stupid face. He dodged it easily with a tilt of his head.

"I see your aim has improved."

"What if I was indecent, huh?!" I continued, throwing another shoe at his head. He caught it right before it could hit his face. Damn him.

"But you weren't, isn't that all that matters?" He smirked, carefully dropping my shoe on the floor.

My eyes narrowed. Was he that stupid? "You're an idiot."

"Ouch. You're still so mean, Lucy," He replied with mock hurt. I said nothing, letting my hate-filled eyes do all the talking. If looks could kill, Natsu would be a lifeless heap on my carpet right now.

He let out a sigh. "Oh c'mon. You didn't miss me? Not even a little?"

"Just get out, and if you ever come into my room like this again, I swear I'll beat you worse than Erza ever could," I fumed as I walked over the door and yanked it open, gesturing for him to leave. He smirked again. I felt my eyebrow twitch.

"Your threats have gotten more creative."

Ignored.

"So what's up?"

"Out."

"I can't have a simple chat with an old friend?"

"No. Leave."

"You're no fun, Luce."

 _Fun?_

A light bulb suddenly lit up in my head.

 _Operation make Natsu uncomfortable: commence._

"Oh, you want to have fun? Why didn't you just say so," I said, trying to sound as sultry as possible as I began stalking towards him, watching his expression waver with every step and loving every second of it.

His sudden change of demeanor was pure gold.

The stupid sly grin slowly began to fade as I got closer, watching his face go red and his smug expression quickly shift into a vulnerable one.

Ah, I missed this.

"… U-Uh, a-actually you're right, it was wrong of me to break into your room, I'll just see myself out—"he began to trip over his words, suddenly stopping when his gaze met mine.

"Huh? I thought you wanted to have _fun_?" I kept the eye contact, now close enough to reach out and touch him. My eyes scanned his stunned face once more, and that's when I came to a few shocking realizations.

I always Natsu was attractive, but now he was just plain _hot_. The guy looked better than he ever had before, and we were alone. In my _bedroom_. So close I was basically standing in between his legs.

I couldn't help but glance down as his lips.

He noticed. And mirrored the action.

What was this feeling?

Before I could process what was happening I felt a pair of arms shove me back and heard a "Gotta go!" before Natsu disappeared out the window in which he came from.

What was that?

A bunch of weird feelings began to bubble up in my gut. For a second there it was almost like I had actually wanted something to happen.

And why did I feel like I'd been _rejected_?

God, what was happening.

This was a mistake.

I needed to lie down.

* * *

Walking into the crowded dining hall for the first time in months was great. The sound of many conversations happening at once, combined with the smell of cheap greasy dining hall food filled my senses, and I realized how much I actually did miss this. Finding everyone was relatively easy, since we always sat at the long table in the back. I was making my way towards the line for fries when I heard a cute voice calling my name behind me.

"Hey!" Levy ran up to meet me on line, still looking cute as ever in her orange dress.

"I missed this," I hummed dreamily, eyes scanning the huge dining hall, suddenly stopping when they spotted a certain douchewagon making his way towards our table.

Right after the event that happened in my room earlier, I had to go into deep thought and spend the next 30 minutes reminding myself once again that Natsu was just a troll who deserved an Erza beat down, and was able to push any other thoughts to the back of my mind, where I hoped they would disappear forever.

"Yeah," Levy sighed. "This year's gonna be so great!"

"I sure hope so," I replied while side-eyeing Natsu, who stopped to flirt with some blonde girl he seemed to know. "Let's just hope fireball over there doesn't ruin it for me."

"Nah. He seems a lot more mature now, in more ways than one if you know what I mean," she uttered with a smirk.

"I second that."

We turned our heads toward the voice that just agreed with Levy and found Cana walking toward us with her head turned in Natsu's direction.

"That guy grew up _good_. I wouldn't mind having a piece of that now."

I resisted the urge to gag.

"You've had too much to drink," I scoffed.

Cana snorted. "I can _never_ have too much to drink," she refuted, and I slightly chuckled at that very valid statement. "Just look at him, and _honestly_ tell me he hasn't gotten hot."

I rolled my eyes, trying to act nonchalant about the whole thing, even though I knew her statement was one hundred percent valid.

His green eyes were beautiful as ever, jaw line defined to perfection, and his white smile was absolutely gorgeous. His pink hair was perfectly messy, the red v neck t-shirt he wore fit his built frame wonderfully, and the black jeans they were paired with did not do him any justice. He looked _good_.

"Well?" Cana asked expectantly.

Instead of verbally answering, I snatched the flask she had in her hand and took a long sip. Levy and Cana's jaws dropped in amusement and shock and I merely shrugged, giving the flask back to the brunette.

"This year is gonna be interesting. Can't wait to see how you and fireboy over there play around with each other now that you're _adults_ ," Cana said with a smirk before she walked off to flirt with some random guy. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't play around with him!" I yelled after her, feeling my face burn at her clear implications. Levy let out an amused laugh beside me.

"I think you should try to forget about this whole 'I hate Natsu' thing. Maybe you can take this as an opportunity to settle your differences?" Levy suggested.

"Never. I can't ever get along with him," I retorted, proceeding to explain the events that happened today, minus 'operation make Natsu uncomfortable' of course. No one could know about that. After I finished, I searched her face for the reaction I was hoping for, and for a few seconds I was met with a blank stare. Then she randomly burst out laughing, much to my surprise and annoyance.

"What?" I demanded.

"Lu-chan, you guys are so cute!"

"Wha- What!?" My face heated up again. "He broke into my room through the _window_! That's just plain weird!" I said incredulously.

"I guess that's a little weird, but it's also a total Natsu thing to do. I highly doubt he had any ill intentions," She reasoned.

"It's a complete invasion of privacy and it was not appreciated."

"Lu-chan, it's been so long, and you still don't understand why he does this?"

"I do understand. He likes to make me mad. It somehow amuses him."

She laughed. She _laughed_.

"What?" I huffed again, even more annoyed.

"You really can't see it?"

"What is there to see? He likes to troll me, that's it. It brings him joy."

The smile remained on her face as her laughter subsided. "I don't think that's entirely true. He's too good of a person," she insisted.

"To _you_ ," I muttered as we reached the front of the line and filled our plates with fries.

We eventually met our friends at the long table and I made it a point to sit as far away from Natsu as possible, though that didn't stop the glances he kept sending my way. What was his deal? Was he upset at the fact that he couldn't troll me from the other end of the table? Probably. I chose to believe it didn't have anything to do with what had transpired earlier at all.

Our dining hall session came to a sudden halt when Natsu accidentally set the table on fire (like an _idiot_ ) and everyone was forced to evacuate the space while the staff took care of it. Gray had some choice words for the pyro, and Erza looked ready to kill after having to leave her strawberry cake behind. He made it a point to stay as far away from her as possible, hiding behind Mira and Lisanna who tried their best to keep him away from the redhead's evil glare. No one else seemed to be upset with him, probably because it was Natsu and no one could possibly ever stay mad at him. That guy was a goddamn _saint_ in everyone else's eyes. Curse his amazing people skills.

By the time I had arrived back at the dorm and got ready for bed, I was exhausted. Though as soon as my head hit the pillow, my thoughts began to go haywire.

I always knew Natsu was attractive, but that was back in middle school, when we were 15 and just barely beginning to understand those types of feelings. But today hadn't been like any ordinary Natsu-hating day in the crowded middle school hallway. We were now close to 18 years old when feelings were as intense as ever, and even though he annoyed me to no end, I couldn't help the strong physical attraction I felt towards him. That said, I didn't realize how strong that attraction actually was until that moment just hours prior. Honestly, if it weren't for our history, I'd have probably tried my hand at pursuing him this year. Not that I'd ever admit that to anyone.

I made a note to keep that information to myself, because if Natsu ever found that out, he'd have a field day with it.

Curse you Natsu, you attractive son of a bitch.

* * *

"So fire brain, now that you're back are you finally gonna tell Lucy how you feel?" Gray pressed, sitting at Natsu's desk and playing with an ice ball he conjured up.

"What?" Natsu replied sharply, not moving from his lying position on his bed but suddenly shifting his eyes to meet the ice mage's.

"Okay, I know you're an idiot, but you're not this dumb. You know what I mean."

"Fuck you, ice dick." He returned his gaze to the small flame in his hand, ignoring the question completely.

"Whatever. I'm just sayin', you guys aren't kids anymore. You can stop with the teasing bullshit and actually be real with her."

"I don't like her," he lied. "She's just really fun to mess with."

Gray rolled his eyes. "You're lying and you know it, but fine. I'll drop it."

"I'm not lying."

"You so are."

"Fuck off. I'm being serious."

"Why so defensive?"

"Why so _annoying_?"

"I'm just sayin', she's not gonna tolerate you messing with her forever," Gray deadpanned. "And don't deny it. You've liked her since day one."

"I'm gonna throw this fireball at your fuckin' head."

"Go ahead and try, won't change the truth though."

An instant later the fireball Natsu had been playing with immediately began flying towards the ice mage's face, and was easily dodged by the ice Gray had conjured up earlier.

"I'm not talking about this anymore," The pyro grumbled.

"… Fine," Gray huffed, reluctantly dropping the subject. "Be honest. Are you actually okay? You spent the last two years alone and living in the woods," Gray questioned, his tone shifting to something more sincere, serious.

"Yeah. I told you, Happy was with me the whole time," He repeated. "And it's not like I couldn't see you guys. I was around, just not allowed to talk to anyone. But it was fine," he lied, glancing at the blue cat sleeping peacefully at the edge of his bed.

"If you say so…" Gray uttered, checking his phone. "Shit, it got late. I'll see ya tomorrow, and try not to set anything else on fire 'till then, ya fuckin' pyro."

Natsu said nothing as the ice mage left and kept his gaze fixed on a spot on the ceiling, recounting the past two years in his head.

To be honest, being forced to be around his friends while they completely ignored his presence had made him feel completely invisible, a feeling that a guy like Natsu absolutely hated. The prolonged loneliness combined with the constant fear of being found by his brother ate away at him constantly, and it's a miracle he was able to get any sleep at night. If weren't for Happy, he probably would've fallen into a state of extreme depression. He constantly supported him through his words, and encouraged Natsu to play with him when he was feeling extra sad. Happy was a constant reminder that that he wasn't actually alone, that he was still a part of something. He was the greatest friend a guy could ever have.

Aside from Happy, being around his friends often and not being able to talk to them did make him upset, but also reminded him of why he needed to get through it. The memories of brawling with Gray and Erza on the playground, Mira's and Lisanna's forgiving smiles when he inevitably caused mischief, Getting stomped constantly whenever he challenged Laxus, Cana's constant dirty jokes, and Lucy…

Lucy.

She had captured his attention from the very beginning. She was always happy, always smiling and uplifting everyone around her, and incredibly feisty when provoked despite being one of the smallest girls in their grade. For as long as he could remember she was always adorable yet passionate and it provoked feelings in him that no one else has ever been able to bring out. He wasn't quite sure how to handle it, so he often found himself lashing out at her when they were kids. When they were older he would tease her constantly just to get a rise out of her, while also forcing her to pay attention to him.

She was absolutely beautiful.

When they got older, he began to notice just how pretty Lucy actually was. The way her long blonde hair fell perfectly past her perfect shoulders, her big brown eyes that glimmered in the sunlight, a body that could seduce any guy she wanted, full lips that Natsu couldn't help but daydream about… Lucy was gorgeous. He would find himself dating other girls in hopes to get his mind off the blonde, but it never worked.

Gray was right. He's liked her since day one.

He would never admit that to him though, since he'd probably tease him constantly for it if he found out.

Natsu knew Lucy didn't feel the same way about him, which is why he'd never told anyone about his true feelings towards her. Hell, she probably _hated_ him. But he was willing to live with that as long as he could still be around her. It also helped that she was incredibly fun to mess with, and he just couldn't resist _not_ messing with her. She was just so cute when she got riled up over his light teasing, he couldn't help it.

Now, if he knew that Lucy didn't genuinely enjoy taking part in some of the trolling herself, he would've stopped doing it a long time ago. He loved it, but if he found out that it really bothered her he would stop in an instant. Almost every time he'd say something fully intending to get a rise out of her, she'd almost always come back with an equally clever retort, and he often wasn't prepared for it. He could tell by the subtle smirk she desperately tried to hide when she saw his shocked face that she loved messing with him just as much as he liked messing with her.

Today though, was especially unexpected, and he wasn't prepared for it at all.

In that moment, it took all his strength not to kiss her, and it was made even harder when he noticed he wasn't the only one thinking about it. Or maybe she wasn't actually thinking about it, and was just trying to troll him even further…

He kept replaying those few seconds in his head as the day went on, unable to think of anything else. He had to applaud himself for his immense self-control after he'd found the strength to push her away and get the hell out of there before he did something he might regret, and he had to constantly remind himself that she was just teasing him on the whole walk back to his room.

He probably shouldn't put himself in that kind of situation again.


	5. Chapter 5

Ah, Mondays.

I loved just about everything about F.A., but if there was one thing that I absolutely could not stand, it was waking up at 7am just so you didn't miss your morning class. It took nearly all my strength to drag myself out of bed, and if it weren't for Lisanna banging on my door yelling at me to hurry up, I probably would have been late.

I swung open the door while Lisanna was in mid-knock, and would have gotten a fistful of perky white-haired fury square in the face had she not realized the door was now open. She reeled back at the suddenness, but her surprise later shifted into excitement when she saw my appearance.

"You look cute!" She exclaimed, eyes sparkling. I was flattered, but she seemed a little overly excited. I mean, she was wearing the same exact school uniform I was wearing, a white short sleeve button down paired with a striped tie, along with a mid-thigh length navy blue skirt.

"Thanks," I grinned. "You do too! I mean, you're wearing the same thing I am."

She simply giggled in response before promptly turning out and beginning to walk down the hall, signaling for me to follow her. "C'mon, were gonna be late for class!"

* * *

Lisanna hummed happily during the whole walk to the general education building, and while I wanted to be as happy and giddy as she was, I couldn't help but think she was hiding something. My suspicion only deepened when we got the classroom, she looked around, and her smile immediately dropped.

"Huh..?" She murmured, scanning the class once more. I followed her gaze, and failed to see why she was disappointed. The room was full of other F.A students, including some we knew and talked to occasionally. Everything seemed fine. Good, even, considering we had a class together.

"What's wrong?"

She nearly jumped at the sudden question. "Wha- uh, nothing!" She dodged, the grin returning to her face, but you could tell this one was fake. "Let's sit," she pointed to one of the few empty tables by the window with two empty seats at the far end of the room, and before I could say anything else, she was already walking over to it.

The room had rows of wooden lab tables that sat two people, along with a large desk at the front where a middle aged woman with long green hair was standing, looking through a huge binder that sat on the desk. There were posters of different kinds of math equations covering three of the walls, the wall beside us consisting mainly of large windows, giving a view of the school's sports fields. So two people shared one table in this class. I seriously hoped the teacher would let us pick our own seats so I could sit with Lisanna, but of course, I was soon disappointed.

The class started shortly after we arrived, two other students coming in shortly after us. "Welcome back to Fairy Academy, guys. You can just call me Evergreen. Don't get too comfortable in a seat just yet, because you'll be sitting in a random seat I give you," the teacher announced as she lifted her head from the binder.

The room was soon filled with the sound of annoyed groans and people getting out of seats. Just awesome. I'd have to sit with some random person for the rest of the year... Then again I knew about half the people in this class, so I'd probably be fine. The teacher soon ordered everyone to the front of the room, later proceeding to call out 2 names as she passed by each table, one for each seat. Eventually she got to a table all the way in the back and said my name, so I walked over and took my seat, still kind of anxious. This seat wasn't too bad, though. It was in the back, and right by one of the large windows. I probably wouldn't even mind who I sat with here. If they annoyed me, I always had a good view if I turned the other way. She had yet to call out who would be sitting next to me for the rest of the school year, which made me even more anxious. _Please don't be a snob. Please be Lisanna._

And of course, the universe took this moment as an opportunity to throw a curve ball right in my face at, light speed. And said metaphorical ball had like, spikes and all sorts of other things to make the blow that much more unpleasant.

The name that came out of her mouth made me freeze in my seat in utter shock.

"Natsu Dragneel."

...

Natsu

Freaking

Dragneel.

This was not happening. Nope.

Seriously, universe? Natsu? He was in this class?

Has Lisanna known and _that_ was why she was so excited?

I had to share a table with _Natsu_ for the rest of the school year, of all people. How would I even survive this? My sanity was on the line here. Being together occasionally with our friends was one thing, but sitting next to him for an entire year? I don't think I could handle that.

But wait...

I looked around the room, and there was no sign of him anywhere. _Was_ he even in this class? I would've noticed him if he had walked in, but as I scanned the class again, I saw he was nowhere to be found. It was probably some mistake.

"Natsu Dragneel?"

No response, again.

"No Natsu?"

Obviously not, lady.

I was mentally praising and thanking the universe until the sonofabitch decided to hit me over the head yet again.

Stupid universe.

The pink-haired teen in question burst through the classroom door with his best friend Gray Fullbuster, late of course, and I paled. I was naive! Of course he wouldn't come to class on time, not even on the first day of school, which meant... Dammit. He _was_ in this class, and the universe does hate me after all. I was internally freaking out right about now, while the teacher just looked at them, unimpressed. Several soft gasps and utters of "Is that…" and "Natsu?" could be heard throughout the room as they laid their eyes on the scarf-wearing pyro who had been missing for the past two years.

"You're both late, and on the first day of school. Way to make a good first impression on your new teacher," she stated sarcastically, unamused. Natsu and Gray on the other hand looked _very_ amused, and only shrugged in response.

"Sorry," they said in unison. She rolled her eyes.

"Natsu Dragneel, you're sitting right here," She said, pointing to the seat beside me. He would literally be sitting a mere foot away. Every day. Until the end of the year. I cried inside. Lisanna seemed to be celebrating this, however. I could tell by the look in her eye and her bright smile that she was enjoying this way too much. I shifted my gaze from her to Natsu, who was eyeing me while listening in to something Gray was whispering to him. When Gray had finished, a smirk appeared on his face a second later, though Natsu looked less than impressed. After whispering something back to Gray, Natsu started making his way over to the seat next to me, his eyes never leaving mine even though the entire classroom was staring at him, a smirk slowly starting to form on his face. As soon as he sat, I immediately shifted my gaze completely away from him, opting to gaze out the window instead to hide my probably ever-present annoyance.

"Looks like we're gonna be math partners, Luce. You as excited as I am?" I could just _hear_ the smug grin.

"Ecstatic," I mumbled.

He chuckled. "You don't seem that enthusiastic. It's kind of hurting my feelings."

I gasped in mock horror. "Oh no! Not your feelings!"

"So mean," he sighed. His voice got closer. "No wonder you don't have a boyfriend."

I turned to face him for the first time since he sat down, fully intent on strangling him with my stare, though stopped short when I realized the proximity. My eyes met his immediately and I felt my face heat up at the realization that he had leaned in slightly while I was turned towards the window and now our noses were simply inches away. I faced forward promptly, retort dying in my throat. I could see Natsu's smug smirk get wider out of the corner of my eye.

Fuck. Him.

 _I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you._

Shut up, me.

Saving me any further interaction, Evergreen had finished seating people and began explaining her policies and other things that no one ever seemed to care about.

"You will be working closely with the person sitting next to you."

She yanked me out of my daydream with that statement. God, this just kept getting worse. The insufferable pyro beside me gave me a light nudge on the arm with his elbow. I resisted the urge to punch him in the arm with all my strength, though it probably wouldn't do much either way.

The short sleeves of his white button down shirt gave a nice view his very toned arms.

Wow.

 _Stop, Lucy_ , I scolded evil Lucy harshly, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks once more.

Thankfully, Evergreen had talked for most of the class. Soon enough it was over, and I left feeling absolutely defeated. It turns out just having to sit next to Natsu was the least of my problems. The teacher had emphasized working together during class with the one sitting beside you, and even encouraged meeting outside of class to work on group assignments.

 _Ugh._

So much for this being a great year. On the other hand, Natsu seemed to be completely fine, talking avidly with Gray while we walked to our next class.

"Looks like you and Natsu are gonna be spending _a lot_ of time together this year," Lisanna smirked as we made our way through the crowded hall, Natsu and Gray too busy exchanging insults to pay attention to either of us.

"Don't remind me," I whined, shutting my eyes in exasperation as I threw a palm against my forehead, before looking hopefully at her with the best puppy-dog eyes I could muster. "Any chance you'd wanna switch seats with me?"

"Not a chance," Lisanna laughed and hooked an arm through Gray's, distracting him from his conversation (or more like insult competition) with Natsu. "Gray and I are such great math partners already, right Gray?" Though she didn't give him a chance to respond before speaking again, looking over at Natsu. "I think you guys are gonna be good partners too," she giggled.

"I agree," The pyro grinned that signature white smile, showing off his sharp canines.

"Of course you do," I muttered with an eye roll.

We eventually all separated as we went to our next classes.

* * *

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully, since none of my closer friends were in any of my other classes, and before I knew it I was leaving my last class of the day and meeting up with the girls for lunch.

Lisanna, Erza, Levy and I had been making our way towards the campus exit on our way to one of our favorite nearby diners when we noticed we were about to be intercepted by a couple of our male friends. One in particular stood out from the other as he ran towards us with a hard look of determination. As soon as he saw his target, Natsu slowed to a walk with fierce eyes and a huge grin.

"Erza!" He stood a couple feet from the scarlet haired requip mage, who eyed him curiously. "Fight me!"

Of course.

Back then Natsu was always itching for a good fight, and Erza was one of the most powerful mages at F.A. After two years, he was no doubt impatient to see how they had both gotten stronger, and if he could actually beat her for once. I was actually excited to see this, considering they were both great fighters and as such they always put on a good show.

The redhead's eyes shifted from bewilderment into realization, and then excitement as she gave an equally fierce grin of her own. "Gladly."

"Erza and Natsu are gonna fight!" Lisanna's eyes twinkled as they bounced excitedly between the two mages.

"I hope they don't destroy anything in the process," Levy mumbled, her eye on the library which stood a short distance away to the right.

"I'm rooting for you Erza!" I called after the redhead, who looked back at me with a small smile of appreciation before returning her gaze to her pink-haired target.

His fists burst into flames. Her body glowed as armor materialized replacing her school uniform, and a broadsword appeared in her hand.

And they charged.

" _Fire Dragon's_ —"

"STOP!"

Gray had finally caught up to us, catching the attention of the two mages who stopped abruptly at the sudden protest.

Everyone turned to look at the ice mage who had just rudely interrupted the start of what would have probably been an epic fight.

"You idiot pyro! How many times do I gotta tell you you can't fight here!" Gray yelled at the disappointed dragon slayer. "If you wanna fight, you gotta do it on the field across campus. Don't get you and Erza suspended just 'cause you can't wait, dumbass."

Oh. Right. We had somehow completely forgotten about that rule in our excitement to see the outcome of a battle like this.

Erza grimaced, an armored palm hitting her forehead. "I had forgotten! As president of the student council I am ashamed," she cried, her knees hitting the floor as she fell in defeat.

Natsu merely huffed and crossed his arms stubbornly. "Dumb. Well fine, let's just go to the field then."

"I have lost the will to fight."

"Oh come on!" Natsu whined.

Levy gave them both sympathetic smiles, though probably secretly thanking the gods her precious library was safe from harm. Lisanna and I couldn't help but giggle at the pink-haired dragon slayer's childlike distress.

"Good afternoon, brats."

Everyone turned to look at the sudden new presence coming from the left, spotting a small figure several feet away from where we all were. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Natsu instantly straighten at the new voice.

"Gramps?"

"Welcome back, my child."

Natsu's mood immediately did a 180 as he rushed over to meet the headmaster of Fairy Academy. "Good to see ya!" He called out, stopping when he stood in front of the short old man.

Makarov met his grin with one of equal caliber before suddenly turning serious. "Come with me to my office, Natsu. We need to talk."

Natsu looked bewildered at that, but nodded nonetheless, following the man who was half his size into campus.

"What was that about?" Lisanna watched the two disappear from view with a frown.

"They are probably going to discuss Natsu's return to Fairy Academy after such a long absence," Erza guessed.

"Maybe he'll get kicked out," I half joked. The girls laughed at shook their heads.

"In any case, can we go eat now? I'm starving," Levy chimed, earning several nods of agreement.

We waved our goodbyes to Gray before leaving the campus gates, excited to finally get some good food in our systems.

* * *

"What is it, Gramps?"

The headmaster stood with his arms crossed on his desk that was littered with papers, natural light streaming through the large window coming in from behind him and giving a view of the courtyard from two stories up. He stared seriously at the pink-haired teen who relaxed on a leather seat in front of him, looking bewildered and slightly concerned at the look he was being given.

"First off," Makarov began, eyes softening for a moment. "How are you doing?"

Natsu looked slightly taken aback at the question, before his gaze shifted down to a spot on the floor. "I'm alright."

"Be honest with me, Natsu."

The dragon slayer sighed. "I get a little upset when remember how I missed out on so much time I could've been spending with my friends. I think about it every time I'm with them."

"There was no other choice, Natsu. By braving through these last two years, you not only saved yourself, but you kept them safe too. It wasn't easy, but you did it. Don't ever forget that."

"But is it really safe? Zeref—"

"Don't worry about Zeref." Makarov's eyes met the young mage's with intense fire. "Igneel and the other dragons took care of Zeref. You just live your life the way you want. You're a good brat, and still so young. Do not concern yourself such matters." Makarov eyed the teen almost sympathetically. He still had his whole life ahead of him, yet he still constantly worried about being taken and possibly killed at the hands of his own brother.

Natsu's stare returned to the floor, eyebrows knitting together as he seemed to go into deep thought. "You can't be completely sure the dragons are gonna keep him down," he stated firmly. Makarov stood there in silence, unable to deny the validity of the youth's words. "If he comes back and tries to use me again…"

The headmaster opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say died in his throat at he was met with eyes full of raw determination.

"... I'm gonna kill him."


	6. Chapter 6

**"Gobsmacked" is such a funny word. Anyway here ya go ;D**

* * *

 _A 11 year-old Natsu sat alone on a bench in the schoolyard, absentmindedly playing with some fire he conjured up when an equally aged blonde stood in front of him, casting a shadow over his form as she covered the sun with her body. He looked up to find Lucy staring down at him with a bored expression._

" _You look dumb when you're sad," she said casually. "Well, you actually look dumb all the time but you look even dumber like that," she halfheartedly gestured to his slumped over form._

" _I'm not sad," he grumbled, returning his attention to the fire in his hand._

" _Yes you are, stupid."_

" _I'm not," he nearly yelled, lifting his head to glare at the blonde. Her expression faltered when she noticed his eyes were suddenly glassy. He seemed to realize, quickly moving his arm up to furiously rub at his eyes before his hair shadowed over them when he looked down at his shoes._

" _Crybaby."_

 _He swiftly whipped his head back up to angrily retort, but was stopped short when Lucy shoved a small white cloth in his face. He took it and held it away from his face to look at it, noticing the initials LH embroidered in pink in one of the corners._

" _Why are you even upset anyway? Did Gray beat you in a fight?" she smirked, earning a look of disbelief from the pyro._

" _No! Like that would ever happen," Natsu shot back. "Why do you even care?"_

"' _Cause like I said, you look dumb like that," she rolled her eyes and moved to sit beside him on the bench, resulting in him eyeing her curiously. Eventually he just sighed, absentmindedly looking straight ahead at something in the distance._

" _I had a fight with-" he paused. "Someone."_

" _So? You have fights with a lot of people."_

" _This was different," he clarified. "He was stronger than me."_

" _But no one's stronger than you," Lucy replied instantly, almost naturally like she was saying the sky was blue or grass is green._

 _Natsu was too caught up in his memories to catch the fact that the blonde had just basically complimented him. "He was. It actually scares me a lot."_

 _She flicked his forehead._

" _Ouch!" He glared daggers at her. "What was that for?!"_

 _Lucy jumped up from her seat to tower over him again. "You have nothing to be scared of! If you're ever in trouble, your friends are always gonna be there to help,_ dummy _," she scolded, crossing her arms over her chest. He seemed to ponder her words for a moment before Natsu's usual grin returned to his face._

" _You're right," he agreed with the blonde for once. Her cheeks heated slightly at that in addition to the fact that he was smiling brightly at her, and she turned around swiftly._

" _W-whatever. God I'm not sure what's dumber, your smile or your frown," she muttered before running off._

" _Hey!" He yelled after her, about to chase her down before Gray suddenly appeared from the side._

" _Fight me you damn fireball!" Gray shouted, a ball of ice forming in his hand before he chucked it at the fire mage, who barely dodged it._

" _You're going down, ice princess!"_

 _Cana, who had been watching the whole interaction from a safe, eavesdropping distance away, smirked knowingly at the celestial mage and the dragon slayer. She walked off to find her friends, humming a happy tune._

* * *

"So what do you think Makarov's talking to Natsu about?"

Shortly after the almost-fight between Natsu and Erza, we met up with Cana in front of the cafe a short walk away from campus for a much needed lunch. I figured everyone was just as confused as I was about the whole scene with Makarov showing up randomly, and was proven to be right when Lisanna was the first to speak up about what had happened.

"Huh?" Cana rose a confused eyebrow. "What'd I miss?"

"Natsu and Erza were about to fight but then Makarov showed up needing to talk to Natsu," Levy clarified before shoving a piece of croissant in her mouth.

"Sketchy," Cana smirked.

"It may likely have to do with Natsu recently returning to school," Erza guessed.

"But hasn't he been in school all this time? He just was using a different name right?" Lisanna frowned, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Yeah, he also seemed pretty serious. Must be some pretty heavy stuff we don't even know about, Makarov _never_ calls someone into his office unless it's really urgent," Levy said, earning some nods in the booth we sat in.

"Natsu probably just set something on fire again," I thought out loud and couldn't help but roll my eyes at his likely stupidity. Honestly that seemed like the best reason he'd get called to the dean's office on the _first day_.

"Nah, he sees stuff like that on a daily basis," Cana laughed. "Elfman accidentally broke his desk in half this morning while he was showing off his Beast Soul arm."

"Good point," I shrugged. "But I mean, it's Natsu. I'm sure everything's fine." In terms of school, that pyro always got stellar grades in everything despite coming off as a total airhead. Not to mention as a mage he was exceptional, and never got into any problems with other students besides some good natured fights every so often. Everyone loved him.

Then again, I guess that would make it even weirder that he was randomly summoned by the dean.

I didn't care either way of course. Natsu related problems didn't concern me. So I wasn't worried.

I wasn't.

"But what if it has to do with his brother?" Lisanna's frown deepened as she looked down at her panini in contemplation. "If he was so bad that someone like Natsu had to hide, he's probably no joke." I placed a sympathetic hand on her arm. The poor girl was only stressing herself out further about the situation. Though I didn't blame her.

The whole Natsu-has-an-evil-older-brother-who-probably-wants-to-kill-him thing bothered me a lot for reasons. I'm not sure why though since I, myself, have been _very_ close to murdering Natsu on multiple occasions. It had been in the back of my mind since he told us. You'd really never expect happy-go-lucky Natsu to have family angst as crazy at that, and I'm certain I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"If that was the case, Natsu would still be in hiding, wouldn't he?" I tried reassuring her.

"Unless he suddenly came back again right when Natsu got his freedom back," Cana muttered and I shot her a death glare at which she only shrugged. "Just sayin', he seems like a pretty big deal."

A sigh escaped me as I returned my attention to Lisanna, who now seemed even more on edge despite my efforts. "The chances of that happening are probably really low," I reasoned. "The dragons wouldn't let Natsu free unless they were _absolutely_ sure he was safe."

And that was the truth. The dragons always stuck together no matter what, like family. They wouldn't put a family member in obvious danger like that, _especially_ not Igneel.

"That's true," Lisanna gave a small smile. "It'd just really suck if we lost him again, you know?"

"Yeah," I agreed without thinking. "But don't worry about it too much. I'm sure he's fine."

Something about what I had said had brightened her smile tenfold, and I just looked at her curiously, wondering how she just suddenly seemed to go from 0 to 200 in two seconds.

"Hmm… I'm still curious as to why he's in the office though," Lisanna looked up at the ceiling, seemingly in thought before her blue eyes were looking straight into my soul. "You should go ask him!"

I felt my jaw drop slightly as the sudden suggestion before rolling my eyes. "Why me?" I asked incredulously. "You're the one who wants to know."

"I just remembered I have so much I have to do today!" She suddenly was scarfing down her sandwich like her life depended on it.

"So just ask him tomorrow," I challenged with obvious exhaustion.

"I also think you should ask him," Levy piped up from beside me, and immediately turned to face my best friend who had just betrayed me, absolutely gobsmacked.

"What? Why?"

"Because if it _was_ serious, Natsu's not gonna tell anyone besides you or Lisanna the full story, and Lisanna's obviously booked," Cana answered for Levy, pointing a thumb beside her at the white-haired mage who just seconds ago had dumped 100 jewel on the table, and was now rushing out of the cafe with a mouthful of panini to go run her "errands".

"I agree," Erza piped, looking up from her strawberry cake for the first time in five minutes.

"Why would he tell me?"

"'Cause he's got a huge thing for you," Cana stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?" I raised a brow. "No he doesn't."

"Ask him what happened in the office, Lucy," Cana basically sang. "You and I both know they probably talked about some serious stuff in there. Makarov doesn't call people into his office for small things, especially if it's Natsu. I bet he'd spill his soul to you if you asked."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, maybe I will. And when he brushes me off to go fight with Gray or something you'd better be around so I can rub it into that smug grin of yours," I shot back with a smirk of my own.

"Oh?" Cana smiled even wider. "Shall we bet on it?"

"You're on." At this point my mouth was just spewing words before I could even think about them.

"If you lose you have to admit you're attracted to Natsu."

"What?!"

" _And_ you have to tell him," Cana finished.

WoahwoahwoahwoahWOAH.

"I- wh-" I could hear sounds coming from me, but couldn't even process what to say or how to react at what Cana had just said. When I finally managed to pick my jaw up from the metaphorical floor I stated (more like stammered) the first words to come to mind. "That's not true!"

Levy giggled at what was currently unfolding in the booth, and Erza silently watched the action with a barely concealed amused smile while Cana merely sat there, unfazed with the same sly grin on her face. "The only person you're lying to at this point is yourself, and Natsu," she stated matter-of-factly.

I immediately opened my mouth for a rebuttal, but nothing came out.

I realized only then that my shoulders had been tense the whole time, because they eventually relaxed and a sigh of defeat escaped me. "A-and if you lose?"

"I'll give up alcohol for a month."

"A _month_?" Levy's eyes widened into saucers, shell-shocked at the idea of Cana being without her flask for more than a few _days_.

"A month," Cana affirmed. "Deal?"

At this point I actually took the time to think about this, my mind no longer running at about 500 miles a minute. Yeah, okay, I found Natsu attractive. Lots of girls did. But could I ever admit that to him? Absolutely not. Never. Not in a million years.

Unless of course, it was due to a bet with my probably very drunk right now friend.

It was times like this where I wished I wasn't so goddamn stubborn. "Fine. Deal," I said quickly before I could regret it.

What had I just gotten myself into?

* * *

I wasn't sure how long I was standing outside the pink-haired pyro's door, but judging from the strange looks I was starting to get from passersby it was probably a pretty long time.

 _Just knock on the damn door, you idiot._

Flinching at evil Lucy's pushiness, I lifted a fist and knocked on the door with two soft raps, heart instantly dropping to my stomach at the action.

And I waited.

And waited.

After about 30 seconds, I decided I was home free and quickly turned around to dart down the hallway, happily willing to postpone this to another day.

Until I heard the door open behind me and a certain male voice say my name in a curious manner.

My heart dropped so low I was half expecting it to smash through the floorboards and flop into the basement of the dormitory.

 _Just do it, Lucy. Before he calls you a weirdo again._ I gave myself a mental slap before turning swiftly around and walking straight past Natsu into his strangely clean room without a word, vaguely hearing him chuckle a little before the door closed.

 _Dammit you looked like a weirdo anyway!_

"Uh, what's up Luce?" I could just _hear_ the amused smirk.

I whipped around and cut right to the chase. "Why'd Makarov ask to see you in his office today?"

His smile faded slightly and his eyebrows knit together at the sudden, probably unexpected question, before the smirk returned and I braced myself for the inevitable douchebaggery.

"Aw. Worried?"

"No," I shot back almost instantly. "Lisanna told me to ask, but she couldn't do it herself 'cause she's really busy."

He seemed to process this for a bit before walking past me to flop down on his bed. My eyes followed him curiously. He let out an exasperated sigh, staring up the ceiling in what seemed like deep thought. Truly a rare sight indeed.

"Family stuff."

 _Oh no. oh no oh no oh no ohnoohnoOHNO-_

"Family stuff?" I pulled out the chair from his desk and sat facing him. "Lisanna's not gonna be satisfied with that. What family stuff?"

 _Get up Lucy. You got your answer Lucy. Don't let him say anything more Lucy. Don't get worried Lucy._

"He asked me how I was doing, and then he told me what was going on with the situation with my brother. He tells me not to worry but…"

"But?" _Stop it, Lucy!_

"I just…" He sighed again. "I know Zeref's not gonna go down just like that."

"Idiot. Nothing's gonna happen to you," I basically snapped.

"No one knows that for sure," Natsu shot back almost right after my last word.

"I do, so stop worrying about it." I swear, today was just the day of word vomiting.

Luckily for me, he either didn't seem to notice my sudden uncharacteristic praise or was too lost in thought to to make some sly retort because he merely went straight into his next point.

"How can I not worry when he could go after my friends-"

"Stop." Now he was really being dumb. At some point during his sentence I had gotten up from his desk chair to glower at him, but he simply looked up at me with the same pensive expression. "You of all people should know to not underestimate the power of Fairy Academy mages."

Natsu stood up at that, towering over me in a second but I stood my ground. "I'm _not_ underestimating the Fairy Tail district," he stated firmly. "But I've experienced firsthand the power Zeref has and I can't-"

"Stop worrying-" I quickly attempted to cut him off but he continued.

"I can't lose you," he finished.

I must've looked just as gobsmacked as I felt because after just staring at me for a moment his eyes widened into saucers as if realizing what he just said.

And then the dumb smirk returned.

"You're so fun to mess with after all."

…

"REGULUS LUCY KICK!"


End file.
